Officials in Georgia harbor ambitions of turning the South Caucasus country into a global cultural center, but those plans took a big hit when a deal to bring the New York Philharmonic to Tbilisi imploded recently. Now, Georgian officials are scrambling to repair the damage done to the country’s image.

In the past, the United States has sent artworks abroad to leverage its soft power. Most famously sending Abstract Expressionist paintings to Soviet-threatened Europe as a symbol of American freedom during the Cold War. Now, instead of dispatching art, the State Department has announced that it will launch the artists themselves.

More than 190 countries and 50 organizations are represented at the event, which has had at least 52 million visitors thus far. Of those 52 million, there are roughly 160 American college students working at the U.S. pavilion in the Student Ambassadors Program run by the University of Southern California. The event runs through the end of October.

Taiwan has been trying to raise its international profile with the goal of becoming a full member of the world community even though its relations with mainland China have improved over the past year, the British Broadcasting Corporation has reported.

But under a new $1 million program being announced this week, the Obama administration is planning to expand its cultural diplomacy programs to include visual artists like painters and sculptors, who will be asked next year to create public art projects in 15 foreign countries.

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will celebrate 60 years of its foundation by with a two-day seminar beginning Nov 11 featuring an elite panel of speakers from India and abroad.

The Shanghai World Expo is a great investment in education for all citizens, has achieved great success and greatly improves China's soft power, said Serge Abou, E.U. Ambassador to China, when interviewed by reporters for China News Service recently.

China has pulled out of the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival due to a sovereignty issue over Taiwan and announced it will boycott other festival-related events. The head of the Chinese delegation, Jiang Ping, told festival organizers that the Taiwanese delegation must not attend the festival under the name Taiwan, but as "Chinese Taipei"...